All In The Timing
by magisterquinn
Summary: [AU] Gar approaches the quiet, but pretty, librarian. Sounds bad? It's late, quiet. BBxRae


**Author's Note: Three S's: Short, Sweet, and Shit.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Teen Titans.**

* * *

**All In The Timing**

Okay, you can do this.

He sauntered confidently over to the counter and plopped his book in front of her. She glanced over the top of her book, raising an eyebrow at the smiling smarmosaur in front of her.

"Hey baby. One of two things, check this out for me," he winked at her as she glanced at the yellow back cover of the book, "or you could let me check you outta here." He was leaning over the counter overbearingly, smiling and licking his teeth in his mouth, his green eyes scanning her up and down as he combed his hand through his messy blonde hair coolly.

"Whadya say?" She raised an eyebrow at him and, without even standing, turned his book over. _Kama Sutra for Dummies_. He smiled and nodded his head at her suggestively.

* * *

Okay, you can do this.

He walked coyly over to the counter and placed his book at the edge, pushing it with a finger inwardly, placing his library card on top of the book for convenience. He timidly tried to peek over at her but chickened out when he saw he eyebrows begin to move.

"Uh, well, sorry to bother your reading, you look really into it, but uhm." As he stumbled across his words she grabbed the card atop the book, scanned it then scanned the book in turn, all without so much as a glance from her book. Her hand poised above the receipt printer and waited for the slip of paper, then threw it into the pile of his things before receding back to holding the book in front of her face.

Gar grabbed the slip and read it, _The Confidence in You – Due May 9._ He never even saw her face.

* * *

Okay, you can do this.

Gar walked over to the counter and dropped a movie on the counter.

"Shoot," he let the other movies down on the counter gently making sure not to drop another one, "hehe, sorry." Startled by the noise, she rose from her seat and gave him a polite smile, quick enough that if he hadn't been looking it could have been missed. He propped up his backpack on his knee, fumbling through all his things for his wallet, glancing up occasionally with a dumb smile on his face.

"Uh, sorry, my mom probably forgot to pack my wallet again." She looked up at him with disgust and waited, impatiently tapping her fingers on the wood counters. He smiled and whipped out a peanut butter sandwich which he held in his teeth.

"I muv meamut mutter. O fit, I hope yo mot awergic?" She shook her head and watched as he chewed on bits of it while it rested in his mouth and he continued to search for the wallet.

* * *

He propped up his backpack on his knee, fumbling through all his things for his wallet, glancing up occasionally with a dumb smile on his face.

"Uh, sorry, I really should be a bit more organized but, urgh, I just don't, mmm, just don't come to the library enough y'know?" He looked up hopeful that his attempt at small talk was at least amusing her. She didn't even look up.

* * *

He propped up his backpack on his knee, fumbling through all his things for his wallet, glancing up occasionally with a dumb smile on his face.

"Uh, sorry, I was in such a rush this morning I just threw everything in my bag." He glanced at her when she smiled patronizingly. Gar suddenly noticed she was reading the titles of the movies she was unlocking, curiously turning them to read their summaries.

"That one won an Academy Award for Best Picture in, I think it was, '78?" he said offhandedly at the movie she was holding while looking through his bag. Glancing up again he noticed her reading another one, "And that one is where Jon Voight and Jane Fonda came home," he paused for a moment and laughed at the irony of what he said, "with best acting Oscars that same year."

"And that is considered to be the only x rated movie to have won an Oscar," he indicated to the movie she was holding. He finally found his wallet and waved it to her, taking the library card out and handing it to her.

She scanned it and clicked away at the screen, "Garfield?" He leaned over and seemed to whisper, "Gar, just Gar." She nodded once and continued to scan the movies.

"So why are renting all of these, Gar?"

He leaned in again but this time, much too closely, "Can I tell you a secret? I don't really watch these movies. I just take them from the library and use them to prop up my TV set."

* * *

"So why are renting all of these, Gar?"

He shrugged, "I just like old movies. I kinda grew up on them when I was little, we didn't have cable and all my grandma watched were old beta tapes she had lying around," he laughed, embarrassed by his own story.

An awkward silence filled the air, broken only by the beeping sounds of the scanner.

"So," he finally mustered up the courage, "You work at the library, huh?"

* * *

"So," he finally mustered up the courage, "is it true what they say about librarians?"

* * *

"So," he finally mustered up the courage, "the pay any good around here?"

She shrugged, "Can't complain. The quiet is nice though."

"Must get really quiet, good for… reading?" he ran out of words and began to babble, "I mean like, there's plenty of books around… and… stuff… so reading is good."

* * *

She shrugged, "Can't complain. The quiet is nice though."

"Yeah, I'm a bit of a chatter box myself. People tell me I get really annoying, and that my voice is a lot higher pitched than most guys so when I talk it kind of gets annoying. And my really close friends try to tell me to shut up, but when I get nervous I can't help it I just keep talking, and talking, and talking… and… talking," he looked up to an annoyed look on her face and gave a desperate smile.

* * *

She shrugged, "Can't complain. The quiet is nice though."

"I work at video store, just down the road actually. I just can't get movies like these over there, over there there's nothing but mainstream crap. You know?"

"I wouldn't know, I'm not one for movies."

"Really? Well most chains, like the place I work at, are awful with the indie and foreign stuff. And I think that's the future in film, y'know?"

"No, I prefer reading. Movies don't seem to imaginative to me."

He shook his head, "See that's where most people get it wrong. Movies are hugely imaginative, given it can't take you away the way a book can but it can take you away in over ways. Movies are a feast for your eyes, and the best ones are both visually stunning and emotionally rendering," he leaned in passionately against the counter, "I mean nothing can generate so much controversy as a movie can, nothing can generate so much talk."

He glanced down at the dwindling pile of movies and saw that he was running out of time.

"So wanna grab lunch?" She raised an eyebrow at him, "No!"

* * *

He glanced down at the dwindling pile of movies and saw that he was running out of time.

"So, uhm, if you're interested in talking some more… I, uhm… could take you out on your break, y'know, just to chat?" She looked up at him, her expression impossible to read and picked up a last movie and read the back.

"How many of these movies have you seen?"

He scratched the back of his head, "Uh, all of them?" She raised an eyebrow and looked up from the movie box.

"So why did you rent them all again, and all at once?" She pulled out the print out of his receipt and looked at it. It listed 25 different movies.

"Because, I forget easily." She nodded as if she knew it all along and sat back down, picking up her book and not even so much as a "good day, sir."

* * *

It listed 25 different movies.

"Because I," he took a deep breath, "Because I wanted to talk to you and needed a reason to ask you out." He smiled hopefully as she glanced at the receipt, scribbled something on it, opened a movie case and placed the receipt inside closing it. Then she looked up, "Have a good day," and sat back down returning to her book.

Disappointed, Gar slid the movies into his enormous bag and walked away, pulling the receipt out of the movie box. That's when he noticed it, in delicate blue pen:

_My break's in half an hour._

* * *

"Excuse me, excuse me. Excuse me, sir?" Gar broke out of his day dream to see that the girl behind the counter was snapping at him that he was next in line. He glanced back and saw no one else there and saw that she was getting frustrated. So he took a deep breath, took those two steps and dropped the movies on the counter.

Okay, you can do this.

"Hi."

* * *


End file.
